I Won't Give You Up (France x Canada)
by LexieIsMe
Summary: Invisible and forgotten most of the time, Canada finally emerges from the shadows and take his place. Here is his story. Enjoy!
1. The beggining

I don't remember how or when I was born. Of course, nobody remembers the day they were born. Usually their parents tell them the story, but I had no parents. At the very beginning, I had nothing. It was a very long time ago when my lands were still nothing but ice and snow. I was so cold, weak and tiny that I could have died many times, but I somehow managed to survive until my saviors arrived. My first people.

Before men, animals were the first to arrive. The very first animal I met was a strange, white, hairy thing that felt very smooth and soft under my small palms. I didn't even know what an animal was, but it didn't matter since Kumajiro gave me warmth and comfort, something that I did not have before.

It happened during another icy and cold day. A group of men that was hunting huge and hairy animals that came by me earlier found me laying on my back, clinging to a little baby polar bear. Soon enough, the men adopted me and became my family.

Since I was just a frail little baby at that time, they took care of me as one of their own children. They fed me (and Kumajiro), they made sure I wouldn't die of cold and they protected me from danger. However, I don't remember anything about that time. I just know it happened because of all the historians who did research about my past. The people who took care of me at that time and brought me to the status of toddler… They probably were my real parents. Since I had someone to keep me warm, the climate of my lands slowly started getting warmer and warmer. The ice slowly melted away. Maybe, at that time, I was thinking of making a gift to my people. They took such good care of me that I decided to do my best to make their lives a little bit easier, with four seasons. They didn't have to always struggle to stay warm anymore. Trees, fresh water sources, lakes, mountains, grasslands, meadows, plants and flowers started appearing on my land. I was getting more and more beautiful with each passing day.

Being a country, I also started to grow bigger, but I wasn't in a hurry, unlike European and Asian countries. My people had lived in harmony with their environment for more than centuries. They were good people, respecting nature, animals and other human beings too. Okay, they weren't as advanced as other countries, but at least they were happy.

The first time I met someone like me, I was quite confused. This boy… He looked so much like me. First, the blond hair. None of my people had blond hair. Theirs were black or brown, not a golden shiny blond like mine and his. Second, the eyes. I had always wondered how come my eyes were a strange gloomy vivid purple. I was the only one with those. My people also had black or brown eyes, not purple. I was glad to see someone with strange eyes too, even though his were sky blue. Third, the skin tone. My people's skin was dark, muddy colored. Even though mine resembled it during summer, it always turned as white as snow during winter. He was like me. His skin was white, his hair was blond and his eyes were different.

We stood up, facing each other for a couple of minutes. Neither of us made one single movement. I was wondering if I should call Kumajiro to help me, or if I should consider this strange boy as a friend. Obviously, he wasn't thinking the same thing.

He walked straight to me.

- _Who are you? _I asked him as he approached me, wondering if he could understand me or if he could speak at all.

- I am a _Kanienkehaka. _And who are you? Asked the boy, taking a step closer to me and smiling.

- I… I am one too… I said, surprised and slightly happy.

- I never saw someone like me before, admitted the boy, shyly gazing down for a second before looking straight back up at me with a childish smile. Where do you come from?

- Akwesasne.

I never had the chance to talk to a stranger before so I didn't mind answering his questions. It was true that, till then, I only talked to my people. It was weird, yet I couldn't help but be curious about this boy. He looked about the same age as me.

- And you?

- Hey that's close to my place! Awesome! I live just by.

I guess that, when we first met, my brother and I didn't have quite a lot to say.

- What's your name?

- Me?

- Yes, of course you! There's nobody else around.

The boy laughed out loud as I watched him, a bit confused. I waited until he was done laughing to answer him.

- I have none.

- … YOU TOO?

The boy then grabbed my shoulders and shook me quickly with his wide sky blue eyes fixed on me. I couldn't help, but blush as he did. I was the only one who didn't have a name at my village because… Well I was a land. Wait. If he said he "you too", then that means that…

- You don't have one either?

The boy shook his head up and down energetically then hugged me tightly, laughing and giggling.

- I am so happy! I found someone else like me!

It was true. At the beginning, neither America nor I did have a name. His name was chosen by his people when they broke free and mine was given to me by Champlain. I carefully hugged him back before closing my eyes and nuzzling closer to him. Strangely enough, this felt somewhat familiar to me.

When we pulled back, he reached out to grab my hand and I squeezed his back.

- We are alike… whispered the boy.

- Yes. Like twin brothers, answered the young me.

- Maybe that's what we are.

Our eyes went wide simultaneously at the thought.

- Twin brothers?

- Yes!

The boy looked very cheerful at the thought. I knew what twin brothers looked like, I had some in my population, but I never thought I had one.

- You… Want to be my family?

- Yes, exactly!

My chest started feeling warm, so warm it was painful. The boy looked at me with concern as I grabbed it tightly, breathing softly. My tiny lips then slowly stretched into a large smile as I felt a warm fluid rolling down my cheeks.

- Okay then, brother…

Those were the days of innocence. When life didn't have a purpose like nowadays. When we lived freely and happily, in harmony with ourselves and our people, not worrying about tomorrow nor looking back at the past. It was before things got dark and mysterious, before the future became uncertain. Before our chests became heavy because of all the painful memories our hearts were baring. It was a time when we didn't know the taste of blood, the feeling of sore eyes after crying out for hours… When we did know the true meaning of love.

I shared lots of things with my brother. I brought him to my land and even let him taste my maple syrup. It was a tradition to my people. His reaction when he first tasted it made me so happy and proud. I wanted to keep the recipe a secret to my people so that each time I met someone new, I could get the same reaction and get this feeling back.

We did a lot of things together, my brother and I. I was happy he didn't live far away from me. Some nights we would just lay down in the high grass. I would cuddle up with Kumajiro and slowly drift to sleep while he would gaze up at the stars and talk about his dreams.

One day, my brother, Kumajiro and I were sitting on a cliff by the very large lake, when we saw something far away from us, like a small black dot in the infinite blue. The dot was moving forward, obviously, since it grew bigger and larger, slowly taking a weird shape. My brother had stood up and pointed the dot to me.

- Hey brother, what is this?

- I don't know… Maybe a big fish?

Kumajiro licked his lips to this comment. I could almost hear him think: _"Fiiiiissh…"_ My brother shook his head, thinking otherwise.

- No, I don't think so.

He shrugged and wrapped an arm around my bare shoulders. Since it was summer, wearing a top wasn't necessary.

- Brother, do you remember when we were wondering if there were others like us around the world?

- Yes?

I looked up at him, slightly confused.

- Well… I think there they are.

And he was right.


	2. White Skinned Men

The black dot disturbing the ocean's infinite blue slowly turned into this massive… floating house? It ran aground on the beach that was down the cliff where my brother and I were relaxing. We were fascinated by its size and shape and, naïve as we were, wanted to learn more about it. We went down the cliff and watched as men came out of the floating house and started setting tents here and there on the beach. Our eyes went wide as we saw the color of their skin.

- White! Exclaimed my brother, surprised.

- Like us…

I squeezed my brother's hand tightly and he squeezed mine back while Kumajiro sat on the sand and licked his paw, carefree as usual. My brother looked far less scared than I was. America always was the curious one. This was all a big funny adventure to him, while I was busy studying them to determine if they were enemies or allies to us.

- Who are they…?

- Is that one's hair red? Do you think it's burning? Asked me my brother, intrigued.

- But he doesn't look in pain. He's even smiling. He looks silly…

- Oh look! The brown haired one hit his head!

- What does "idiota" means, brother?

- I don't know, but it doesn't sound very kind…

With that, my brother grinned and dragged me along with him, persistent and tenacious as he always was and always will be. He was very determined to meet the strangers that came from the ocean. The men were really weird, moving around energetically, especially when they saw us. The brown haired man (the one that hit the now crying red head) noticed us and walked towards us, gesturing the crybaby to follow him. My brother took a step forward and practically pulled me beside him. I would have rather stayed behind and study them. The ginger wiped his cheeks and rubbed his head, looking at us with a confused expression.

- Be careful, brother. This one looks a bit slow.

I squeezed Kumajiro as my brother nodded, gazing up at the tallest one. He slowly stretched his lips, forcing a… smile? WHAT KIND OF CREEPY SMILE IS THAT?

- CIAO BAMBINI! Sono Lovino Vargas, e mio fratelloc hiamato Veliciano Vargas. Potete chiamarci "fratelli maggiori" adesso! **(HELLO CHILDREN! I'm Lovino Vargas, and this is my brother called Veliciano Vargas. You can call us "big brother" now!)**

Our eyes went wide.

- What did he say…?

- I don't know brother…

The brown haired one didn't move. His forced smile sent shivers down my spine as I hide myself behind my brother and clenched my eyes.

- What does he want? I screamed, wanting him to stop.

We shivered uncontrollably, even though we weren't cold. Brother tried to look brave like the warriors in his tribe, but he was shaking more than I was. He held my hand so tight that it turned blue.

- He's s-strange, he whispered in a shaking voice, slowly giving in to his fears.

- S-s-scary…

Our eyes filled with tears and we slowly stepped back. The man stopped moving seeing our frightened faces and fell silent. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he fell on the floor in a loud grunt noise, which scared us even more. The ginger jumped too and began to whine at the unconscious creepy man.

- Grande fratello Romano! **(Big brother Romano!)**

He shook his head, shrugged then stepped on the one laying on the sand to approach us. He was already giggling again as if he already forgot about his comrade. Were they siblings like my brother and I? They did look alike a lot, but who would step on their unconscious siblings? The brown haired one finally got up after many complaints and pointed us to his brother, saying words I just couldn't understand.

The ginger kneeled in front of us while the brown haired walked away, yelling at the men who were coming out of the floating house.

- Brother… what do we do now? This man doesn't look as mean as the other one…

- It's true. He looks like a baby… But still! He stepped on an unconscious person instead of helping him! Can we really trust him?

The ginger tried to speak to us.

- Ciao ragazzi! Nonavere paura di me, io sono bello, a differenza di mio fratello scontroso.. **(Hi boys! Do not be afraid of me, I'm kind, unlike my grumpy brother.)**

- Ti ho sentito...**(I heard you...) ****yelled the brown-haired one, folding his arms and looking rather upset, even with his back turned to us.**

- È vero, **(It's true) ****answered the silly ginger.**

- Stai zitto! **(Shut up!)**

With that, the ginger laughed. We were getting more and more confused as the brown-haired man walked to him, grabbed him by the collar and started shaking him, shouting again. My eyes went wide as I noticed they both had a curl like me too. I started crying before running away, pulling my brother and Kumajiro along this time. These people were really scaring me!

Fortunately, they didn't come looking for us. For an instant, I pictured my brother doing this to me, shaking and shouting at me, and started crying even louder. Kumajiro and he were clueless. My poor brother didn't know what to do to make me smile again and ended up crying as well, holding me in his arms.

They didn't stay very long and only left a wooden stick behind. It was planted in the sand and had a piece of cloth attached to it. Nowadays, every time I get the "chance" to lay my eyes on Britain's flag, it makes my heart aches, but I have to admit that it was beautiful and captivating to the young me. I never saw a fabric with such vivid colors before. I couldn't help but stare and wonder what it meant as I watched it waving, standing on the cliff again. Kumajiro was petting me with his little fury paw, comforting me, while my brother was finishing wiping off his own tears and observing the flag too, fascinated by its colors and shapes. I had the feeling that this wouldn't be the last time we would meet white skinned men.

Soon after that first encounter, my brother had to leave. More people like the weird brothers came to his land. I stayed by my people's side and waited for him to come back with Kumajiro. I was lonely without my brother. I missed him a lot… I couldn't know that the next time I was going to see him, things would be different.


End file.
